The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (190721).Volume VII. Cavalier and Puritan.

V. Milton.

§ 6. His third marriage; Elizabeth Minshull.

His third marriage, just referred to, was with Elizabeth Minshull, a young woman of twenty-four, and a relation of his friend and doctor, Paget. Most of the stories of his life date from these days, as is natural, seeing that they were the days of the Paradises and of Samson. Those as to his harshness to his daughters, and their undutifulness to him, are not improbable, but rather contradictory to one another, and, quite obviously, what would have been told whether true or not. There is not much more consistency or certainty in those about his third wifethough it is generally agreed that he had no fault to find with her.